Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 2Parry, William Edward, Sir
History
Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 2
Parry, William Edward, Sir
Arctic regions; Northwest Passage; Parry, William Edward, Sir, 1790-1855
The scent of the Esquimaux dogs is excellent; and this property is
turned to account by their masters in finding the seal-holes, which
these invaluable animals will discover entirely by the smell at a very
great distance. The track of a single deer upon the snow will in like
manner set them off at a full gallop when travelling, at least a quarter
of a mile before they arrive at it, when they are with difficulty made
to turn in any other direction; and the Esquimaux are accustomed to set
them after those animals to hunt them down when already wounded with an
arrow. In killing bears the dogs act a very essential part; and two or
three of them, when led on by a man, will eagerly attack one of those
ferocious creatures. An Esquimaux seldom uses any other weapon than his
spear and _panna_ in this encounter, for which the readiness of the dogs
may be implied from the circumstance of the word "nen-nook" (bear) being
often used to encourage them when running in a sledge. Indeed, the only
animal which they are not eager to chase is the wolf, of which the
greater part of them seem to have an instinctive dread, giving notice at
night of their approach to the huts by a loud and continued howl. There
is not one dog in twenty among them that will voluntarily, or, indeed,
without a great deal of beating, take the water, if they think it is out
of their depth, and the few that would do so were spoken of as
extraordinary exceptions.
The Esquimaux in general treat their dogs much as an unfeeling master
does his slaves; that is, they take just as much care of them as their
own interest is supposed to require. The bitches with young are in the
winter allowed to occupy a part of their own beds, where they are
carefully attended and fed by the women, who will even supply the young
ones with meat and water from their mouths as they do their own
children, and not unfrequently also carry them in their hoods to take
care of them. It is probably on this account that the dogs are always so
much attached to the women, who can at any time catch them or entice
them from the huts when the men fail. Two females that were with young
on board the Fury in the month of February, brought forth six and seven
at a litter, and the former number were all females. Their feeding,
which, both in summer and winter, principally consists of k=a~ow, or
the skin and part of the blubber of the walrus, is during the latter
season very precarious, their masters having then but little to spare.
They therefore become extremely thin at that time of the year, and would
scarcely be recognised as the same animals as when regularly fed in the
summer. No wonder, therefore, that they will eat almost anything,
however tough or filthy, and that neither whipping nor shouting will
prevent their turning out of the road, even when going at full speed, to
pick up whatever they espy. When at the huts they are constantly
creeping in to pilfer what they can, and half the time of the people
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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